Bucket O' Bookmarks: BudBurst

Citizen scientists sought

Gardeners, for years you've been relying on data from meteorologists to plan your activities; now you have a chance to repay the favor by helping climate research. The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) has announced that, starting today, Project BudBurst is soliciting data on the timing of leafing and flowering of native tree and flower species throughout the U.S.

The project has been opened to nationwide volunteer participation following a pilot study last year which produced reports from 26 states on nearly a thousand phenological events (such as the first bud burst, first leafing, first flower, and seed or fruit dispersal) of a variety of tree and flower species. The species list has been expanded to include 30 native trees/shrubs, 24 native wildflowers, three common exotic weeds, and two common exotic ornamentals.

Attention teachers: Teaching materials for various levels in the K-12 range are available at the project's web site.

UCAR, the country's largest non-governmental meteorological research organization, is jointly administered by 70 universities with doctoral programs in the atmospheric sciences. It manages the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, CO.